


Silence

by Omgitsmatt93



Category: Twilight Series - All Media Types, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: All Human, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, College, Eventual Romance, F/M, Mystery, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Romance, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-20
Updated: 2018-08-22
Packaged: 2019-06-30 02:25:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15742233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Omgitsmatt93/pseuds/Omgitsmatt93
Summary: As a new student at Lakefront University, Bella finds herself instantly drawn towards her unbelievably handsome teaching assistant, Edward Cullen. But something lurks behind his eyes. Can she overcome a world so determined to keep her apart from him? What mysterious secrets does his silence hold? AU/AH





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> For me, this story started as something my mind created when I was stuck at work at 2 o clock in the morning. I originally had intended rather short and to the point, but as it ruminated in my mind it evolved into so much more than I was expecting, with three distinct parts, and approximately thirty three chapters. I hope you enjoy the adventures of many of your favorite Twilight characters here in the Alternate universe of Lakefront University. It has been one of the best experiences of my life writing this story, and I do hope that you enjoy reading! All characters in this story are human. There are also quite a few hidden references to both Twilight, and also Taylor swift lyrics hidden throughout the text. If you find any, kudos! 
> 
> Matt

**_Part One_ **

**_...You Can Hear It In The Silence..._ **

Why had I come to this place?  It seemed the last place in the world a girl like me should be.  The very nature of it seemed to not only repel me, but to be repelled by me as well.  The wind licked against my face, cold and biting, numbing me to the dull, uninviting world around me.

What I wouldn't give for the warmth of my childhood home again, not only in temperature, but in color.  Phoenix had been just that for me; warm in every sense of the word.  The way the rocky crags rose forth from the landscape, the way the air swirled up over the roadways surrounded by sparse gravelly landscaping, with towering cacti overshadowing the shrub like plants that in such a world passed as greenery.  More still than the omnipresent heat, I missed the warmth of my mother's loving smile, missed how it filled my heart when Renee found moments of true inspiration in the world around her, regardless of how irrational or irresponsible acting on that inspiration may have been.

There was no warmth here, although I was no stranger to the cold either.  I had moved to Forks, Washington in the middle of my junior year of high school and though I had never gotten as used to the chill, I had found that despite my initial dislike of the cool color palette of mossy rain forests and damp cold grey skies, I had eventually taken a liking to the place.  Perhaps it was because of my father Charlie. He was a lot like me. He was quiet, shy, and typically kept to himself.  Living with Charlie for the past year and a half had actually been much more pleasant, if not more eventful, than I had originally anticipated.

Therein lied my logic in relocating here for college.  I had actually become accustomed to the dreary, damp cold, something that in theory would be similar, and therefore familiar, in the windy city.

I pulled my head out from between my knees momentarily from where I sat perched on the grass to stare out across the endless expanse of the lake.  The dark water met almost seamlessly with the grey overcast sky.  This world was almost seemingly devoid of color, except for the greenery of the grass and scattered trees about the lawn of sorts in which I sat.  Even then, the colors were desaturated by the oppressive cloud cover, giving everything a cool grey overtone.  The icy wind ran its playful fingers through my dark hair, tossing it about carelessly.  Yes, this did feel a lot like Forks, I decided. It was the first observation I had taken comfort in since arriving here.

The other theory upon which my relocation was based was actually my missing living in a city, and the feeling of institution it instilled.  No matter how long I lived with Charlie, I had always missed the eventfulness of Phoenix.  About this theory I had found myself entirely mistaken.

In Phoenix, life could feel busy, but there was always pause to be found in the desert, pockets of quiet calm and relaxation hidden amongst the hustle and bustle.  There were places I could find reflection. There was none of that to be found here.  Nothing ever stopped here it seemed, at any hour of the day or night.  This became apparent to me the moment I had stepped off the plane.  The people moving through the airport had such drive and determination in their steps as to almost topple me about as I searched in confusion for the trains that would deliver me to what I now realized I was going to quietly suffer through for the next four years: College.

The train smelled badly of urine and dirt as it weaved its way through neighborhood after neighborhood, through the towering skyline of the loop until, several rough transfers later, I arrived at my new home: Lakefront University.

After struggling to haul all of my bags across the lawns of the campus and up the flight of stairs to my dormitory, I had met my roommate Jessica, a shorter girl with beautifully wavy, sandy brown hair.  I had learned one thing about Jessica quickly: she was easily excitable.  She had bombarded me with questions from the moment I entered the room.  I tried to answer as many of them as I could with the minimum amount of information required to not seem impolite.  She didn't seem to notice my lack of participation as she prattled on with more questions and information about herself.  Most of it I ignored, but I did gain a few pieces of insight.  First, she was a sophomore, which led to my deciding that I should fake as much enthusiasm as possible so that she would be willing to show me around.  Secondly, she desperately wished to be a part of some sorority on campus, the name of which I forgot the very instant she had spoken it, and thirdly, she seemed to know every piece of gossip about every person on campus.  I decided it would be best to stay in her good graces.  The one thing she lacked, it seemed, was an appreciation for peace and quiet.  She left me feeling uneasy about her, like a pawn on her chessboard.  I allowed her to show me my first class and then made haste to escape her.

Everywhere I went it seemed there were prying eyes following me. Whether they were real or simply a figment of my own imagination I never knew. It seemed people were either in such a hurry that they bordered on blatant rudeness, or they were so overtly friendly that it was bothersomely annoying.

One boy in particular in my macroeconomics class seemed particularly difficult to dissuade in his over the top friendliness.  The boy, whose name was Mike, had practically walked me on a leash towards one of the dining halls, though the route was well marked with signage.  I accepted the gesture as it felt unwise to dispel any potential friendships so early, as they would likely be crucial to my survival for the next few years of my life.

By mid-afternoon the constant rush and flow of endless people and conversation had finally become too much. I felt tense and uneasy, missing the peaceful forest which I had left behind, something I had not anticipated missing in the slightest.  Spying a patch of untamed trees at the edge of one of the campuses many lawns, I turned thoughtlessly into them and made my way down a nearly indiscernible path through the forest, bringing me to where I currently sat on the edge of the lake.

It was clear to me in that moment that I had made a mistake in coming here, but I couldn't dwell on that in the moment.  Who knew how long it would be until I could again be alone.  I stared out across the glassy water and let the wind whip over me.  I listened to the sound of it as it flowed past my ears, saw the beauty of the rounded stones lining the shoreline, and for a brief moment allowed myself to feel relaxed.  I realized what it was that this city lacked, the thing that I would miss the most from Forks: silence.  I closed my eyes.

My moment of serenity wasn't a long one though.  I could hear footsteps through the grass behind me on my right side.  I ignored them.  It seemed even traveling through the woods on an almost hidden trail couldn't warrant me any time to reflect in this hectic place.

The footsteps stopped, and I could almost pretend that I was alone again.  Almost.  After immeasurable minutes of hearing no more footsteps, I almost felt inclined to reopen my eyes.  After all it was possible that perhaps I hadn't heard whomever it was make their exit.  I decided to open my eyes and look.

I meant only to glance quickly, but that notion was abandoned the moment I opened my eyes, for before me, crouched no more than twenty feet to my right, lay the single most beautiful man I had laid eyes on in my entire life. He was staring noiselessly out across the vast expanse of water.  There was no detail of him I didn't want to absorb: the paleness of his skin, the most flawless skin I had ever seen, the way his chiseled jawline looked as though it had been carved in marble by one of the great roman sculptors, the way that his beautiful tousled bronze hair seem to flutter fluidly in the wind, the perfect line of his nose and the slight pucker of his lips, the pattern of the button up shirt beneath his navy sweater, which clung to his clearly athletic arms and back.  Even the way his jeans held tight to his legs, down to the deck shoes that he wore upon his feet.  He was what every male model in the world had ever dreamed of being.  I would have sworn I was imagining him if it weren't for the fact that I was sure I was in no way capable of enough creativity to pull such beauty from thin air.

I wasn't sure how long I had been gaping at him when he turned his head to look in my direction.  My eyes darted to my feet instantly allowing my hair to fall over my face and knees.  I felt ashamed to have been caught staring.  No matter how beautiful the specimen, it was still a very rude thing to do.  I allowed myself a quick peek through my hair back over towards the man who looked more like Adonis than any man should.  He had resumed staring back out across the lake with perfect stillness. I felt a strange hitch in my chest just from looking at him, as though I shouldn't be allowed to stare upon him in my blatant ordinariness.  Blushing in my embarrassment, I turned away from him and contented myself to stare back across the water.  I would not look again, I promised myself.

"It’s rather depressing, isn't it?" said a voice as soft and smooth as velvet.

I looked over at the perfect man, realizing that he had spoken to me.  Ordinary, un-model-like me.  I found him to be looking back at me, his face even more gloriously flawless straight on than it had appeared in profile.  His golden eyes pierced into me with such power that they seemed to materialize a lump in my throat.  I continued to stare wide eyed, until I suddenly realized he was waiting for me to respond.

"What?" I responded.  He seemed puzzled by my lack of understanding to his inquiry.

"The weather?" he added raising an eyebrow.  He must have presumed I had no wits about me as I stared at him in a stupor.

"I – I actually find it kind of refreshing," I managed to stammer.  I had to look away from him momentarily to avoid him seeing the burning red that was rising to my cheeks.  He let out a low chuckle that sounded more like a set of wind chimes than laughter should.

"This is your idea of refreshing?" He said, as he smirked a crooked smile in my direction.  It was a smile unlike any I had ever seen.  It seemed the world around him exploded into to color under its spell, almost like the sun had suddenly shown straight through the clouds to lighten the world beneath his glow. I felt my heart flutter slightly under its influence and shook my head blinking in order to see through the haze forming in my mind.  I resolved to look out across the water.  It seemed to be the only way this conversation could proceed coherently.

"Actually – yes.  It actually reminds me a lot of home.  Grey – cold – damp.  What's not to love?" There was a brief pause as he contemplated my words.

"Is it safe for me to assume then, that home isn't here," he inquired in his deep, smooth voice.  I paused for a moment as the realization of that truth sank into my being, and filled me again with a sort of longing sadness, and endless frustration.

"It is now," I huffed out.  He didn't immediately reply, and so I continued looking towards the horizon simply to prevent myself from looking back at his glorious face.

"And that's why you're out here – on the first day of the semester?" he asked.

 "Because it's so – how did you phrase it – refreshing?"  His tone conveyed what seemed to be skepticism but I didn't dare look at him to confirm my suspicions.

"Like I said – I just thought it was a nice day so I decided to take a walk," I stammered.  As I had been told many times by Renee and Charlie, lying wasn't my strong suit.  This man however, was a stranger, and couldn't see my facial expression.  I hoped that my voice hadn't betrayed me.

"Then why do you seem so miserable?"  he asked after a moment of hesitation.  Apparently it had.  I couldn't help but look up at him bewildered, and his remarkable beauty struck me with a fresh blow, stunning me anew.

"What makes you think I'm miserable?" I asked cocking an eyebrow at him as if this simple gesture would be sufficient to discredit him.  He smiled, disarming me.

"I wasn't certain, but now I can unmistakably see it in your eyes."  He seemed sure of himself as he spoke in his velvety musical voice.

"I'm not miserable," I insisted, my voice sliding up a tad farther than I would have cared for had I still been in control of my wits.  He smiled at me softly.

"But you don't want an audience to your misery," he said, continuing as though I hadn't spoken.

"Yes.  I can see that now.  Whatever has you upset, you didn't want to confront it anywhere that would put your pain on display, so the first place you saw that you could run off to, you took advantage of.  I apologize for disturbing you,” he said in a factual tone.  My mouth hung agape at how easily he had been able to read me from such limited interaction.  It horrified me.  I had always been an open book, this was something that was well established by my family, but never had I ever been so thoroughly and easily discovered.  Not only discovered, but seemingly mocked for my debilitating embarrassment at the situation.  I felt the crimson tide of frustration rising in my cheeks towards this unbelievably angelic man.

"Or perhaps…" he continued, "… perhaps you are choosing to be miserable."  He stared down at the rounded stones lining the water's edge as if he had become lost deep in the recesses of his own thoughts.

"Why would I choose to be miserable?" I asked in an elevated tone, appalled that he had the nerve to even imply such a thing.

 "You don't know me.  You don't know anything about me!  You don't know what I like, what I dislike or where I'm from. You don't even know my name," I practically shouted at him as I jumped to my feet, turning abruptly away from the lake, and stormed off towards the lush greenery to trudge my way back to the lawns and buildings of the university campus.

"Wait," I heard his velvet voice call after me, but I would do no such thing.  I felt far too vulnerable to return.  I suspected that I had fallen victim to his beauty the way countless others likely had in the past, and as he likely had in the past, he had used that vulnerability to taunt me.  He may have been significantly more beautiful than the others around this place, but he was absolutely no better than the rest of them.

But I could do nothing to prevent his words from spinning around inside of my head, quietly digesting them, disassembling them and rearranging them.  Perhaps he was correct.  Perhaps I was miserable.  Whether I was miserable or not, I was certain that I wasn't going to like it here.  I was also certain that I never wanted to see him again.  I never again wanted to hear his smug assumptions about me when he knew nothing about me at all.  I was positive about that.  Clearly beauty was not the measure of a man.  I couldn't shake the feeling however, that a smile as enchanting as his, so mesmerizing as to bring color to the world, would haunt me for the rest of my days.  I shook the thought away quickly, and my resolve hardened.  I had no room in my life for any negativity but my own.


	2. Chapter 2

I proceeded to my dorm that evening wearing my mask of artificial enthusiasm, pretending nothing out of the ordinary had transpired during the day.  Jessica seemed to buy my story.  So did Mike, whom apparently had overheard Jessica speaking with some of her girlfriends about her new best friend, her roommate, and had thus shown up in our common room this evening.  I could tell his presence was going to quickly become prohibitively exhausting, but I was resolved to ride the wave of Jessica's friendship as far as I could, and thus realized that I would have to at the very least tolerate his presence.  Jessica did seem a nice enough person.  Still, I couldn't shake the underhanded suspicion that she was getting something out of my friendship.  Of what that was, I was as of yet unaware, but she seemed to be the type of person who only helped others if it in some way benefited herself.

Mike's intentions, on the other hand, were blatantly obvious, judging by his constantly downward drifting gaze.  I made a mental note to wear more layers around Mike in the future or this was quickly going to become an issue, an issue which again, I had no power to resolve lest I risk alienating one of the only friends that I had.  I furtively wished that none of it had to be so complicated.  I tried to pay attention to the conversation that different people in the group were having.  I had already forgotten all of their names and most of them were sophomores like Mike and Jessica.  What made focusing more difficult were my own thoughts, which kept wandering back to my encounter earlier that day.  His piercing golden eyes, beautiful and gleaming as amber, back to his smile that seemed to wipe me clear of thought, to his musical laughter, and velvet smooth voice.

"What classes do you have tomorrow Bella?" Jessica's high voice said, interrupting my thoughts.  Everyone was looking at me expectantly.  Obviously they been talking to me while I had been obliviously day dreaming about a man that I despised.

"Um – Tuesdays and Thursdays I only have Biology one in the afternoon," I managed to stammer.  The girl across from me smiled gently.  It was the warmest expression I had felt from anyone since I had arrived.

"Which professor?" Jessica asked, her voice muffled from stuffing a mini donut in her mouth at the wrong time.  She seemed rather shameless about it.

"Um – Professor Banner I think," I said, trying to find the class on my roster.

"Oh my god! His class is great," Jessica exclaimed after having swallowed her donut half chewed.  She was met from around the group with skeptical looks.

"Ok. Ok. So maybe his class isn't _actually_  that great, but good  _god_ , his teaching assistant is so  _hot_."  Her eyes practically glazed over at the memory of him, or more likely, the memory of some fantasy which she had created about him.  Different female members of the group mumbled in agreement at the teaching assistant's apparent attractiveness.  Mike rolled his eyes with absolutely no subtlety, clearly aggravated by all of the girl's obvious attraction to this man.

"Eh he's alright I guess," Mike mumbled in aggravation.

"You're entitled to your wrong opinion," Jessica jabbed at him.  I had to admit I was moderately intrigued, even though I was positive that no matter how attractive he was, he would not hold a candle to my mysterious stranger I had met earlier in the day.  No man I had ever seen outside of a magazine could.  Still, I decided that I would attempt to reserve my judgement.  Besides, the sciences were my least favorite classes, so at the very least it had to in some way make the course more bearable.

"Angela aren't you in Biology one with Banner too?" Jessica asked.

"Yes, tomorrow at three.  If you want to meet me outside the dining hall I can show you the way Bella, if you'd like?" said the girl with the warm smile.  I could already tell she was a kind soul and I would gladly accept her companionship.

"Sure. That sounds great," I said with my first genuine smile of the day.

The evening wound down slowly with people departing at various times to proceed back to their dorms.  Jessica seemed to be swimming in the attention, something that I rather detested, so rather early on I resigned to retire back to our room.  At first she seemed a bit saddened by my decision but when another girl asked her a question about yet a different girl and another boy, neither of whom I had ever heard of, Jessica seemed to wholeheartedly recover her vigor, allowing me to make my escape.  I hung my sweater in my closet space, changed into my old pair of worn out sweatpants, and crawled into my bed.  I must have been exhausted as I don't even remember falling asleep, and no dreams stirred me through the night.  The following morning, I woke to find Jessica already gone for the day, although in an act of kindness I hadn't expected of her, she had left me a note on the desk.  It simply read: good luck today!  Then she had drawn a few pictures which I took to be a fire and a heart.  It seemed that perhaps Jessica was a bit jealous that she wasn't attending Professor Banner's class with me today.  She struck me as the type of girl who enjoyed appreciating a fine male specimen, to say the least.

I tried to find something useful to do to consume my time, and began by looking over my economics syllabus, but I was unable to find anything that Professor Dimsey had not already covered in her lecture.  After aimlessly looking over my class roster yet another time, a pointless activity, for I had already memorized it the night before, I made the decision to explore the rest of campus.  The clouds were gone and the sun made the lush green of the lawn look rather appealing.  It may not have been very reminiscent of Forks, but it did actually seem genuinely refreshing.

I found myself strolling across the lawns of the campus, basking in the warmth of the sunlight, the cool pleasant air whisking by me.  I was immediately satisfied that I had left my cardigan back in my dorm, for there was no need for it on this perfectly sunny day. After aimlessly strolling around for a while, I found my mind wandering back to the events of the previous day for yet another go at things.  It was curious to me why I couldn't just let it go.  In the grand scheme of things it seemed like such an inconsequential interaction.  As my mind twisted around his words, my subconscious had taken over my feet and by the time I regained recognition of where I was, I found myself staring at the overgrown path into the woods, today glowing a brilliant sunlit green.

I laughed in spite of myself, for it was absolutely absurd.  I had already resolved never to see him again, a fact that I reminded myself.  Besides, what were the odds he would be in exactly the same place he had attended the previous afternoon.  Schedules were different on Tuesdays and Thursdays, all of the students knew that.  Still, the thought of the lake in the sunlight seemed appealing to me, or at least, the validity of that as an excuse seemed appealing to me, and so I set forth on the wooded path.  Moments later I emerged on the other side of the trees to see an endless stretch of beautiful turquoise water.  As I had logically anticipated, I stood alone along the shoreline.  It made no sense to me that even though I had already known he would not be there, I still felt disappointed by the lack of his presence; his terrible, rude, patronizing presence.

Even in his absence, the beach lawn was still peaceful, and I felt certain that it would once again become a wonderful place for me to reflect in the future once I had rid myself of my own embarrassing preoccupation with the mysterious stranger.  Today however, the shame was still too great, and I abruptly turned and hiked back along the overgrown path towards the campus.  It was nearly time for me to meet Angela anyways, and she was the one person at Lakefront University I had no intentions of disappointing.

When I arrived at the dining hall Angela was already there waiting for me just outside the door, soaking up the sunlight.

"Hey Bella! Are you ready for Biology?" she called to me cheerfully.

"Sure, although I really don't want to leave the sun. It's so beautiful outside today," I said with a timid smile.

"I know.  I feel the same way.  But we really shouldn't miss our first class should we?" she asked, chuckling warmly.  I liked Angela already.

We walked in silence to the medical building, but there was nothing empty about the lack of conversation at all.  It was the kind of quiet between two people that is filling and warm.  She appreciated quiet as much as I did.  Angela and I were going to get along just fine.            

We entered the medical building and turned down the main hallway towards a larger lecture hall, one that likely held several hundred people.  Over two thirds of the seats were already filled so Angela and I filled some of the seats closer to the back of the room.  We truly were kindred spirits, never wanting to stand out from a crowd.  The room was decorated entirely in earth tones and warmer hues, and was overall, for a classroom, very inviting. There were no fluorescent lights to speak of. Everything was lit in warm incandescent glow.

In a few short minutes the hall was full, and Professor Banner strode into the room to introduce himself to us.  He seemed a bit on the drab side, but knowledgeable and a taker of no nonsense.  I had the distinct feeling that as long as I paid attention, I would at least be able to pass, which in my book was a godsend.

Throughout his introduction, Professor Banner continued to remind us of the importance of attendance, and that it was his personal policy to take attendance during every class. It seemed a fair enough policy to me.

"During roll call, if you could simply raise your hand, or stand if you wish, that way my teaching assistant, Mister Cullen here, can see that you are present, it would be greatly appreciated.  If you would proceed Mister Cullen," Professor Banner said, departing the stage and gesturing to a man who was in the back of the room in the small room which housed the projection equipment.  I turned around eagerly, hoping to catch a glimpse of the man whom all of the girls in our group the previous night had found so absolutely attractive.  If only I could tell them what attractive really meant.  If only they had met my stranger from the previous day. I twisted further about in my seat to get a good look at Mister Cullen.

"My word," Angela whispered, her eyes widening.  As he came down the aisle and into the light, an audible number of gasps and murmurs came from the female students in the room.  As for me, three things happened simultaneously.  My breath caught in my chest, my heart leapt clear up to my throat, and I was suddenly overwhelmed with the need to vomit.  His bronze hair shone in the light, his skin warm and soft in its glow, and his graceful stride looked as though it belonged on a catwalk. It was him, the man that I had sworn to never see again, the man I had been making my best attempt not to think about, the absolutely gorgeous, yet discourteous and unsympathetic person whom had been haunting my waking thoughts.  And now, I had no way of escaping him.  If I fled he would see me.  But perhaps if I stayed, if I raised my hand and hid my face, he would not recognize me.  The plan formed concretely in my mind as I tried to keep down the contents of my churning stomach.

And so roll call began.  Every time he would call out a girl's name in his velvet voice, I could practically hear the longing in their reply.  It also became quickly apparent that there would be no way to avoid being seen by him during roll call. The seat directly in front of me was inconveniently empty, and the slant of the auditorium floor offered me no place to hide.

"Garrett Stanley," he asked smoothly.  A hand raised across the room, followed by a low _here_.  I was so close on the list.  Perhaps if I ran fast enough he would not recognize me.

"Isabella Swan."  Hearing my name spoken from his perfect lips sent a jolt of apprehension through my body, raising goosebumps on my arms.  There was no sound in the room.  His gaze looked about expectantly, and I felt Angela staring at me.  She said something to me in a whisper, but I did not comprehend what it was.  I was frozen in indecision.

"Isabella Swan." He repeated.  The only reply he received was the deafening silence of the room.  After a moment, he began to look down at the list as if to make a mark by my name.  My hand slowly lifted off of my lap, and I focused hard on trying not to tremble.

"Present," I said meekly.  His golden eyes shot up and met with mine.  It felt as if he were peering into my soul, instantly reading me with absolute accuracy once more. I waited for it, for the taunt that should be forming on his lips in that moment, but his eyes lingered on me, surprise floating in their endless depths, and perhaps, though I couldn't be certain, even a small measure of satisfaction.  At what I hadn't the slightest clue, but I perceived it, if only for an instant, as a small smirk tugged up at the right side of his perfectly symmetrical lips.

"Jared Torylo," He said, his eyes still locked on me for a few more moments before after a hand shot up across the room and he turned his eyes back to the paper.

Released from his gaze, I immediately stared down at the flattened brown carpet, trying to control the urges in my body at that moment: the urge to hurl, the urge to flee, the urge to stare.

"Are you alright Bella?" Angela whispered in my ear.  I nodded with as much conviction as I could muster.

The class passed very slowly, and very quickly all at once.  Anytime I thought  that he wasn't looking, I would steal a glance in Mister Cullen's direction, although it felt awkward thinking of him as a mister.  He couldn’t have been more than a few years older than the rest of us.  He caught me glancing upwards in his direction at least twice.  However, on a few occasions, I could have sworn I had caught a brief glimpse of him gazing back in my direction as well, only to look away quickly when my eyes met his; when my flat brown eyes, met the immeasurable depths of his beautiful amber ones.  I had never felt more unremarkable in my entire life.  Who was I to begin to even remotely feel any slight semblance of lust for him?  I could not allow it.  It would do nothing but burden me, and likely annoy him.  I continually reminded myself of his unkindness, and of his impolite taunting.  The moment we were released I had planned to quickly escape the room.  I would tell Angela that I felt ill, which was in no way a fabrication.

When Professor Banner finally released us however, there was no mistaking Mister Cullen's voice ringing over the room like song.

"Miss Swan.  A word if I could," Mister Cullen asked of me.  It was as if his voice had reached out and grabbed my body, pulling me towards him against my will.

"I'll wait outside," Angela whispered.  I found myself standing before him as the other students filed out of the room.  Today his sweater was a forest green, which fit snuggly against the broad and defined musculature of his chest.

I looked up at him expectantly.  I hadn't forgotten his cruelty, which was likely only overshadowed by his ego.  I found it hard to believe that anyone who looked like he did was in even the slightest amount unaware that fact.  I cocked my eyebrow at him, waiting for him to speak first.

"You're looking less…" he began hesitantly.

"What? Miserable?" I asked curtly, staring him down.  He looked shocked, and taken aback at my abrasiveness.  The hard lines of his professional demeanor seemed to soften slightly.  He did not respond, but neither did he avert his gaze.

"What do you want Mister Cullen?" I asked with a sigh.  I did not know how much longer I could hold myself together in the face of him, even if he deserved my anger.

"Please, call me Edward," He requested softly with an almost imploring tone.  I took a deep breath, attempting to hold my mental footing, for it would be so easy to lose under the powerful gale of his softening gaze.

"Fine – Edward," I said, attempting to sound exacerbated, but it guiltily sent a small stir through my stomach to say his name as though he were someone common to my life.

"What do you want?" I asked again, my real exacerbation returning.

"I – Just wanted to apologize," He began.

"I feel as though I came across as moderately rude and…”

"Moderately?" I interjected, rolling my eyes at him.

"As  _completely_  rude," he corrected, "… in our first encounter, and since clearly we are going to be seeing quite a bit more of each other…"

"Clearly," I interjected flatly.

"…I just wanted to be sure that I had cleared the air with you, so to speak," He finished.  I stared up at him without replying as I studied his expression, searching for a sign of insincerity.

"So – Do you accept my apology?" He asked hesitantly as I continued to gaze upwards at him with scrutiny.  His eyes seemed to peer into mine, as if to detect the earnestness of my response to his apology.  I had to look away from them momentarily to recollect my tangled thoughts.

"I suppose," I said to the ground.  I looked back up to see his uncertain expression lift into a grin of contentment.

"Alright then," he said with a playful smirk.

"I suppose I will see you around then – Isabella Swan," He said, smiling at me tauntingly, not in a malicious way, but in a playful one.  His smile, of course, was as forceful and stunning as ever.  He turned then with one hand placed into the pocket of his trousers and began to stroll towards the rear door of the auditorium. My mind swam, unsure of what to do.  Should I stop him?  Should I forgive him?  He had reached the door when my mouth decided for me.

"Bella," I called after him.  He stopped in the doorway and turned to face me with a look of puzzled amusement. He raised an eyebrow.  

"Just – Bella," I said softly.  He grinned, the inexplicable satisfaction returning to his face.

"Until next time then, just – Bella," He said.  The way his voice seemed to caress my name left me staring at where he had been as the door closed behind him.  My mind had finally caught up to my voice agreeing that it was the right thing to do to forgive him.  First impressions were not everything, and his second impression was nearly the exact inverse of his first.  I was left thoroughly confused as I exited the classroom.  Angela was eyeing me with concern from the hallway just outside of the auditorium door.

"What was that all about?" she asked.  Unlike if Jessica had asked the question, I knew that Angela's inquiry had come from a place of concern for my well-being.  I however, was in no place to talk about how confused I was.

"He um – he had bumped into me earlier by accident and just thought he should apologize," I lied partially, something I felt guilty doing to Angela.  But how was I supposed to answer her truthfully?  I was unsure of what had even happened.

That night at our group meet up in the common room, the topic drifted to Edward only once, which was far fewer times than my own mind drifted to him.  The topic was only brought up when Jessica had asked if we were satisfied with his attractiveness.  In reality, she did not phrase her query quite so eloquently.  She actually wanted to know on a scale of one to ten how sexy we believed him to be.  Angela said it best when she suggested words could not describe him and that she would need to start a new scale altogether.  It was an understatement in my opinion.  Even after turning in for the night, I could not stop thinking about his apology, the sincerity of it, and even in my clouded tired mind, his face. The last thought that crossed my mind that evening was of his dazzlingly brilliant smile, before I was claimed by the realm of unconsciousness.

 


End file.
